“Based on public reporting, the search warrant that has been published online, and your public statements to the press, there appears to be no justification for the breadth and intrusiveness of the search—particularly when other investigative steps may have been available—and we are concerned that it may have violated federal law strictly limiting federal, state, and local law enforcement’s ability to conduct newsroom searches,” the organization said. “We urge you to immediately return the seized material to the Record, to purge any records that may already have been accessed, and to initiate a full independent and transparent review of your department’s actions.”
The RCFP noted in its letter that the police department’s actions also appear to have violated federal law. Under the Privacy Protection Act of 1980, it is unlawful for police to seize journalist work products or documentary materials. Under court precedents, that protection applies even if the material was itself based on unlawfully obtained information, so long as the newspaper and its journalists did not break the law themselves to obtain it. For that reason, it is extraordinarily rare for law enforcement agencies at any level of government to raid a newspaper’s offices.
“Our first priority is to be able to publish next week, but we also want to make sure no other news organization is ever exposed to the Gestapo tactics we witnessed today,” Eric Meyer, the newspaper’s publisher, said in a statement to the Record over the weekend. “We will be seeking the maximum sanctions possible under law.” According to local news outlets, this would likely involve a federal civil rights lawsuit against the department.